Category: Graphic Novels

Dark Horse digs up a ‘Stranger Things’ zombie tale

New OGN from Greg Pak and Valeria Favoccia due out next February.

With the third season of Stranger Things now available for binge-watching and the franchise showing no signs of slowing down, it makes sense that we’d hear about a new project from Dark Horse. Following the previous two miniseries, the publisher will release an original graphic novel next February set in the Stranger Things universe.

Writer Greg Pak will team with artist Valeria Favoccia, colorist Dan Jackson and letterer Nate Piekos for Stranger Things: Zombie Boys. It’ll be set after season one and will feature a new character, Joey Kim, who wants to make his own horror movie.

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‘Heavy Vinyl’ returns for a second spin

Carly Usdin and Nina Vakueva reunite for another round of music store fight club.

Carly Usdin and Nina Vakueva will reunite for a Heavy Vinyl original graphic novel, a sequel to the 2017 miniseries. Subtitled “Y2K-O!,” this one will take place in the summer of 1999.

“Getting the chance to continue the Heavy Vinyl story is a dream come true! I’m thrilled to be reunited with my precious little ‘90s babies. The story picks up a few months later — it’s 1999, digital music and file sharing have upset the status quo, and Y2K approaches!” Usdin said. “You can expect the same level of exhaustively researched pop culture references with new characters, a new mystery and more Chris/Maggie cuteness. I’ve been having a great time writing it, and I can’t wait for fans to read it.”

The story revolves around a group of girls who work at their local record store, Vinyl Mayhem — which is also the front for a teen girl vigilante fight club. In the new OGN, they’ll have to deal with the led-up to Y2K.

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‘Jia and the Nian Monster’ explores Chinese lore

Mike Richardson and Megan Huang team up for a new original graphic novel.

When he’s not busy running Dark Horse, Mike Richardson is writing for them. In anticipation of this year’s Comic-Con International later this month, Dark Horse has announced the newest project from their founder, Jia and the Nian Monster.

Richardson is teaming up with artist Megan Huang on this new original graphic novel that’s based on an ancient Chinese legend.

“I’m pleased to work with artist Megan Huang to bring this Chinese legend to life for readers of all ages,” Richardson said. “I’ve always been interested in Chinese lore and hope to impart that interest on a new generation of readers.”

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Of course Shannon Wheeler is working on a Mueller Report adaptation

“It’s the Mueller Report… with pictures… and funny.”

I’d be very disappointed if Shannon Wheeler, creator of Sh*t My President Says, wasn’t working on a comic book adaptation of the Mueller Report.

“It’s the Mueller Report… with pictures… and funny,” Wheeler said in the press release.

Wheeler will once again work with his Oil & Water collaborator Steve Duin to adapt the more than 400-page legal document assembled by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III on his investigation into Russia’s interference with the 2016 U.S. election. IDW promises they’ll produce “a comprehensive, understandable and readable graphic novel version of the book every patriot needs.”

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Powell + Jensen team for ‘Two Dead’ this fall

New graphic novel from Gallery 13 explores crime and racism in the Deep South after World War II.

Van Jensen and Nate Powell will team up on a new graphic novel this fall for Simon & Shuster’s Gallery 13 imprint. Two Dead, according to Paste, is about “crime, conspiracy, racism and insanity in the post-World War II Deep South.”

“Van and I started collaborating on Two Dead before I began drawing the March trilogy, believe it or not, shifting focus over the years and evolving past its genre parameters,” Powell told Paste. “Finding the right approach for this story was in part thanks to those years re-imagining its format, scope, historical relationships, and how it speaks to the world of 2019. Along the way, each book I drew concurrently with Two Dead helped pave the way for its final form—Come Again allowed me to embrace the power of genre, just as March better equipped me to finding the personal focus within a larger historical context. I’m always eager to bring my home state to life through comics, and each book doubles as a love letter to Arkansas in all its contradictory beauty.”

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Celebrate International (Interstellar?) Dinosaur Month with ‘Alien Bones’

Chris “Doc” Wyatt and Chris Grine team up for a new graphic novel from 1First Comics.

Did other planets have dinosaurs? Chris “Doc” Wyatt and Chris Grine will explore that question in October in Alien Bones, a new graphic novel coming from 1First Comics.

Coinciding with International Dinosaur Month, Alien Bones features a boy and his paleontologist father exploring the galaxy and looking for the fossils of extinct alien dinosaurs. But when his dad disappears inside the ruins of an alien city, 10-year-old Liam teams up with his pet dinosaur and a robot to save him.

“The idea of Alien Bones came from wanting to thrill my son with an adventure out in the universe,” Wyatt said. “I can admit that astronomy can sometimes seem dry and boring in the classroom, so I wanted to find a way to encourage my kid to think about the cosmos as an exciting place to explore and discover. He was interested, at the time, in dinosaurs—a lot of kids go through a dinosaur phase, and my son was no different. So, I thought: ‘What about kids having adventures with dinosaurs in space?'”

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‘Empowered’ returns for 11th volume from Dark Horse

Adam Warren’s long-running satire gets a new volume this September.

Adam Warren‘s long-running series Empowered will return with a new volume from Dark Horse this fall. The company announced that the superhero/cheesecake satire will see its 11th volume arrive in stores Sept. 18.

The manga-influenced series kicked off in 2007 with its first volume, with new volumes following every 1-2 years. Warren began posting the earlier volumes on the web a few years back, and currently you can read up through volume five on the site. Be careful, as it can be addictive; it looks like a softcore cheesecake superhero story, but it goes deeper than that, with a lot of humor and intrigue. I’ve seen it described as a “guilty pleasure” series, and I’d agree after getting hooked reading the first two volumes this past weekend.

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Grateful Dead get an origin story thanks to Z2 Comics

Noah Van Sciver and Chris Miskiewicz will take you back to the beginning of the Dead’s long, strange trip.

Z2 Comics has teamed up with the Grateful Dead for Grateful Dead Origins, a graphic novel detailing the band’s early days. And they’ve recruited Chris Miskiewicz and Noah Van Sciver to tell the story.

“We’ve seen many archival releases that offer magnificent audio representations of the Grateful Dead’s history, and several filmed interpretations of the Dead’s story. To these, we’re thrilled to add to the Dead’s narrative canon this beautiful portrayal of the Dead’s origin story in the form of this wonderful new comic,” said Grateful Dead audiovisual archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux. “Chris and Noah have captured the Dead’s sensibility in their words and images that bring to life on the page the earliest days of the Grateful Dead, from the band’s founding in 1965 through to Woodstock. We couldn’t be happier to be partnering with such talented artists who have delved so deeply into the Dead’s history and origin.”

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Take a look inside the controversial ‘Jesusfreak’

Joe Casey and Benjamin Marra’s original graphic novel featuring a kung-fu Jesus arrives in comic shops this week.

This Wednesday Jesus will rise again in the pages of Jesusfreak, a new graphic novel by Joe Casey and Benjamin Marra. Combining ’70s exploitation comics with the story of Jesus Christ, the book is described as “a bloody, two-fisted tale of heroic historical fiction featuring a certain young Nazarean carpenter who is having some trouble finding his place within a world of ever increasing violence,” according to publisher Image Comics.

“Jesusfreak is less inspired by any strict religious traditions and is instead more concerned with exploring the unique tension that exists between depicting a mythical figure and a historical figure—a tension that is compounded when, for many, they’re considered the same person,” Casey said when the project was announced. “It’s also a chance for Marra and I to indulge in a specific style of hard pulp storytelling that we think perfectly fits this material.”

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The first prez fights imposters in ‘Washington Unbound’

Jason Lex’s graphic novel arrives from AdHouse in May.

AdHouse Books will unleash the fury of George Washington in May, as they radically ratify Jason Lex’s Washington Unbound. Washington will bring the veto down on an imposter trying to take over the White House after an abduction attempt. Oh, and there’s a cat!

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‘The Highwayman’ hits the road in May

Koren Shadmi’s latest rolls into town this spring from Top Shelf.

Top Shelf will publish The Highwayman, a new graphic novel by Love Addict and The Abaddon creator Koren Shadmi, this May.

The science fiction tale features a loner, The Highwayman, who “travels through the vastness of North America searching for the source of his condition” — immortality. “Bound to the road and at the mercy of whomever will give him a ride, he encounters people who reflect the rapidly changing world around him,” the publisher said in a statement. “Moving through centuries of change, he watches humanity’s precarious trajectory towards an unknown future.”

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‘Tales of the Music Makers’ to include two Harvey Pekar stories

New graphic novel from Z2 Comics will benefit the Music Maker Relief Foundation.

Z2 Comics, which has published a number of graphic novels with musical themes, has a new one queued up for February: Tales of the Music Makers, by Gary Dumm.

The graphic novel is a benefit project for the Music Maker Relief Foundation, which is a bit like a music version of the Hero Initiative: It “provides resources to elderly, southern musicians living in poverty and keeps southern, musical culture alive by recording albums, arranging concerts and museum exhibitions, and publishing books.”

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